A new wetland treatment system, the first project of its kind in the Oakdale Irrigation District, is in its final stage and getting the finishing touches at the Union Slough on V.A. Rodden land between Crow Road and Ellenwood, south of Claribel.

The Oakdale Irrigation District is in the final stages of a wetlands and water treatment project. In the contributed photo at side, OID workers excavate material in an area of the project so a concrete spillway can be constructed on the central berm of the wetland. This is to prevent erosion of the berm if storm water flows exceed the capacity of the pipe and water goes over the spillway.

Members of Orange Blossom 4-H club recently painted the windows of Oakdale Feed and Seed for the Christmas holiday. Farmer Santa on his tractor being pulled by his "reindeer," also known as farm animals, supply the main theme for the windows. A cowboy snowman also appears.

The Oakdale Tourism Business Improvement District (BID) was the topic of lengthy debate at Monday night's Oakdale City Council meeting. New potential appointments, the lack of a spending report, and confusion over BID funds were all hotly debated in the public meeting.

After a year of investigating, interviewing and discussing, the Oakdale Irrigation District Board of Directors unanimously decided to adopt a policy on "fringe" parcels in an action at the Dec. 20 regular meeting.

Preparations for the Oakdale Relay For Life 2012 are under way, and this year children of all ages are taking the initiative to raise funds. From selling homemade crafts to collecting spare change, Oakdale kids are finding plenty of ways to help out.

Oakdale Police took a man into custody Monday night, Dec. 19 after he beat, choked, and threatened to kill his fiancee for attempting to leave him after repeated incidents of abuse that escalated into a frenzied attack that left the victim suffering from injuries severe enough to send her to the hospital. After subduing the 23-year-old man with a Taser blast, police found a loaded 40-caliber handgun in his bedroom. See the Wednesday, Dec. 21 issue of The Oakdale Leader for the full story.

As a reminder, Modesto Irrigation District gave notice to customers in the Oakdale area that there will be a scheduled outage, Sunday, Dec. 18 from 7 a.m. to 1 p.m. The reason for the outage is so MID can replace a bad switch in their lines supplying power to Oakdale. The outage will affect the industrial area near ConAgra, Sconza, Ball Metal Food and Household as well as 1,200 residential customers.

Driving along Yosemite Avenue past A street residents might notice the signs of construction. A bright yellow building is nearing completion and is visible from the road. This is a common sight across the country, even in a housing market where many find it cheaper to buy than to build. This is not a single family home, or even an apartment complex. This construction project is a senior housing complex, the one type of new building that is doing well despite the economy.